Meet Stuart Cook

Hi I’m Stuart and I am a Research Assistant in Dr Ben Roediger’s Skin Imaging and Inflammation Laboratory.

I never really thought one day I’d be donning a lab coat and goggles in my day-to-day work. During high school, I was tending to lean towards the humanities subjects. But after studying biology in Year 11, the tables turned.

I grew up in a medical household. My dad is a doctor and my mum is a physiotherapist, so there were always chats around the table about ‘this world’ but I never really knew anything about it.

I ended up choosing a science degree at university, and really enjoyed the practical side of it. I mainly focused on biology subjects, but I also had a few earth and environmental science ones as well.

Fast-forward a few years, and I have already been the lead author of a study which has uncovered a new pathway in the body to fight cancer, including melanoma.

At the moment, I’m focusing on a project which is based around the hallmark of inflammation – the inflammasome.

I’ve always found science terribly fascinating. It satisfies me intellectually, and it’s nice coming to work every day knowing everything you do makes a difference, even the small stuff.

Outside of work I enjoy spending time on the snow slopes. When I finished high school, I spent some time working in Canada as a ski instructor.